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Delivery drone start-up Airbound takes off while securing $1.7 million

Airbound delivery drone in action (Image source: Airbound)
Airbound delivery drone in action (Image source: Airbound)
Focused on next-gen delivery drones, Airbound came out of the shadows yesterday by announcing a $1.7 million seed round and the noble goal of creating "a world where delivery is essentially free" by starting with a focus on medical deliveries such as blood samples. Food and groceries will follow in time.

Hijacking/theft aside, one of the issues with today's air delivery drones is their weight and the cost of such deliveries. Enter Airbound, a company that is working on reducing the weight of the hardware involved by a staggering 30 times, which would allow for delivery costs of "just a few cents" once their design is used in large numbers. For now, the startup has just come out of the shadows, and, fortunately for them, they did so with a $1.7 million seed round. The list of backers includes various anonymous angels, as well as Lightspeed and gradCapital.

According to the official press release, the company's blended wing body tailsitter design (TRT) is capable of "reducing delivery costs by two orders of magnitude compared to traditional options" while also being the safest and lightest delivery drone on the market. The design that Airbound is already using on a limited scale is already three times lighter than its competitors, also sporting a fourfold improvement in aerodynamic efficiency. 

"We scrutinized every vehicle system to reduce weight, enhance safety and reliability, and maximize efficiency. We developed new methods to manufacture carbon fiber, which allow us to reduce the weight of our airframe from 6 pounds to 400 grams. Our goal isn't just to build a great drone—we want to create a world where delivery is essentially free,"

reveals Naman Pushp, Founder and CEO of Airbound.

For now, Airbound is using the TRT drone to perform medical deliveries, especially flying blood samples to testing labs. The next step will be to deliver food and groceries, but it remains to be seen when this will happen. The company also mentioned that "thousands of kilometers" have been flown by its drones so far.

Those looking for a drone can currently grab the DJI Neo off Amazon for $199, with free returns and free delivery across the continental US included in the price.

Source(s)

Stockwood Strategy (via email)

Airbound Secures $1.7M to Make Drone Delivery Economically Viable Everywhere 


Lightspeed, gradCapital and prominent angels back world-leading efficient drone technology  


San Francisco, California & Bangalore, India - November 14, 2024; Airbound, a drone technology startup, today announced a $1.7 million seed round led by Lightspeed to build the world's most efficient delivery drone. With its proprietary blended wing body tailsitter design, called TRT, Airbound aims to transform logistics, reducing delivery costs by two orders of magnitude compared to traditional options.


Historically, the drone delivery industry has faced challenges due to regulatory complexity and high per-mile costs, which have prevented drones from becoming the default solution for last-mile logistics. Airbound's TRT design will be the lightest, safest, and most economically viable delivery drone, reducing the cost of deliveries to just a few cents. 


"We are proud to have developed not only an industry-leading delivery drone, but also a highly efficient, scalable manufacturing process," said Naman Pushp, Founder and CEO of Airbound. "We scrutinized every vehicle system to reduce weight, enhance safety and reliability, and maximize efficiency. We developed new methods to manufacture carbon fiber, which allow us to reduce the weight of our Airframe from 6 pounds to 400 grams. Our goal isn't just to build a great drone—we want to create a world where delivery is essentially free" 


The journey began as a high school project for Naman Pushp, who turned down an offer to study at Carnegie Mellon University to pursue his passion for drones. With early backing from gradCapital, he spent four years developing TRT, innovating on carbon composite manufacturing, aerostructures, and advanced control systems. Today, Airbound's drone is over three times lighter than conventional alternatives, with four times the aerodynamic efficiency, significantly reducing upfront and operating costs.


Airbound's efficiency-first strategy sets it apart from competitors more focused on speed, adapting existing drones for limited market segments. 


Airbound's initial focus is on medical deliveries, particularly routine supply deliveries such as transporting blood samples from health centers to testing labs. Once the system is proven at scale, Airbound plans to expand into other applications including food and grocery delivery, where reducing logistics costs can significantly enhance profitability. In total, the company's drones have already spanned thousands of kilometers.


Hemant Mohapatra, partner, Lightspeed commented: "Drones are the future of deliveries and we are highly optimistic about the potential of this game-changing technology in revolutionizing logistics. Our investment in Airbound aligns with our mission of backing founders who can identify market gaps and pioneer path-breaking products to address those. We are incredibly excited to partner with Naman, confident that their innovation will redefine delivery logistics."  


The timing is ideal for Airbound's technology. Many of the major regulatory and technological 

bottlenecks have been addressed, and public enthusiasm around the technology is rising. The only remaining challenge has been making the technology cost effective—a problem Airbound has solved. 


Ends


About Airbound

Airbound is a drone delivery company focused on building the next-generation of drones that can reduce the cost of the last-mile by over two orders of magnitude. They're solving key technological bottlenecks to condense 30kgs of hardware into 1kg, improving safety, scalability, and operating cost. For more information please visit www.airbound.co or follow via LinkedIn and X 

About Lightspeed

Lightspeed is a global multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech sectors. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 500 companies globally including Affirm, Acceldata, Carta, Cato Networks, Darwinbox, Epic Games, Faire, Innovaccer, Guardant Health, Mulesoft, Navan, Netskope, Nutanix, Physics Wallah, Razorpay, Rubrik, Sharechat, Snap, OYO Rooms, Ultima Genomics, Zepto and more. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage $25B in AUM across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in the U.S., Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia. www.lsip.com

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2024 11 > Delivery drone start-up Airbound takes off while securing $1.7 million
Codrut Nistor, 2024-11-15 (Update: 2024-11-15)